“The Lord our God is holy”
is the message of this psalm. Three times we are reminded that God is holy (verses
3, 5, 9). Psalm 99 calls us reverently to worship God because He is holy
(verses 5, 9).
There is probably no attribute of
God which needs to be taught and recognized more in our day than His holiness.
One writer wrote: “Holiness is what defines God’s character most
fundamentally, and a vision of this holiness should inspire his people and
evoke their worship, sustain their character, fuel their passion for truth, and
encourage persistence in efforts to do his will and call on his name in
petitionary prayer.”
"The Lord our God is holy."
What does it mean to be holy?
The Hebrew word for holy is “qadosh”
and means “apartness, set-apartness, separateness, sacredness”. In the New
Testament, the word for holy is “hagios” and means the same as “qadosh”.
Hence, to be holy is to be set
apart—separated. Our God is set apart from all other gods; He is the one and
only true God: “For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord
is above all gods” (Psalm 135:5).
God’s holiness is what separates
Him from all other beings, and others which are called gods. Other gods cause
men to worship possessions and even commit immoral and heinous acts but our God
is different from them. Moses sang this song: “Who is like unto thee, O
LORD, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in
praises, doing wonders?” (Exodus 15:11).
The ancient gods of this world
taught their worshippers to commit fornication (2 Chronicles 21:11) and to
sacrifice their children (Jeremiah 7:31). Our God sets Himself apart from those
gods. God’s holiness means He separates Himself from false gods.
But God’s holiness is more than He
is set apart from other that are called gods. God is "set apart" from
sin, corruption, and impurity; our God does not do any of these things. Therefore,
the holiness of God refers to His absolute moral purity. He is completely
without sin and apart from it: “God is light, and in Him there is no
darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). There is nothing that describes better about
the character of God than “God is holy”.
It is this “holiness” that we are
commanded to follow: “Ye shall be holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).
As God separates Himself from sin, so we must separate ourselves from sin.
The Holiness of God should cause
us to prostrate at His feet that we are unworthy to be in His presence. When
the prophet Isaiah was shown the holiness of God and heard this proclamation,
“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts”, it caused him to realize his sinful
state: “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the
King, the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:5).
Does “God is holy” cause you to be
afraid when you realize God is watching and knows what you are doing?
Hence, the significance of this
statement “God is Holy” means:
1. He is without sin.
2. He hates sin.
3. We are to be holy.
4. We are to hate sin.
And realizing that the context of
this psalm and the previous psalms relates to worship, the statement, God is
Holy, become more important in that it reminds us that we are not to sin when
we worship the Holy God: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth
and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body” (1
Corinthians 11:29).
Jehovah is a holy God is the
highest reason for our adoration, and praise, and worship: “Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come” (Revelations
4:8). His nature is holy, and He is glorious in the perfection of His holiness,
and therefore to be praised and exalted: “Exalt the LORD our God, and
worship at his holy hill; for the LORD our God is holy” (Psalm 99:9).
Let us be reminded that our God is
holy, and so reverend, and therefore to be worshipped in the beauty of His
holiness: “O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him,
all the earth” (Psalm 96:9).
Jimmy Lau
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